Examining the Colonial Legacies of the Hunterian’s Mineralogical and Petrological Collection: New Perspectives on Geoscience Collections
The origin of the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery’s mineralogical and petrological collection can be traced back to Sir William Hunter’s bequest of his collections to the University of Glasgow upon his death in 1783. Examination of the collection’s colonial legacies is only in its nascent stages,...
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University of Leicester
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Museum & Society |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/mas/article/view/4598 |
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| author | Erika Anderson |
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The origin of the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery’s mineralogical and petrological collection can be traced back to Sir William Hunter’s bequest of his collections to the University of Glasgow upon his death in 1783. Examination of the collection’s colonial legacies is only in its nascent stages, reflecting that the scrutiny of colonial legacies is still in its infancy in geoscience museums. Here I review the history of the collection, its composition and usage, and I put those factors into the broader perspective of museums’ colonial legacies.
Among the issues I consider are the extent to which the collection contains international specimens and the extent to which these objects are accessed by their source nations. Also explored are the biases which exist in the limited provenance ascribed to objects in the collection and how certain individuals or types of information may be excluded from documentation. The purpose of these investigations is to consider whether the collection continues to contribute to colonial legacies of the museum sector.
After an examination of these aspects of the collection, new ways of working for geoscience collections are proposed, including standards for gathering data; expanding the collection’s reach to more users; and repatriating objects. These initial measures can change the power imbalances apparent in the Hunterian collection and the geosciences more broadly.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-aedec05a29de49f6937d99739b2dea4a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1479-8360 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Leicester |
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| series | Museum & Society |
| spelling | doaj-art-aedec05a29de49f6937d99739b2dea4a2025-01-07T16:09:07ZengUniversity of LeicesterMuseum & Society1479-83602024-12-01222-310.29311/mas.v22i2-3.4598Examining the Colonial Legacies of the Hunterian’s Mineralogical and Petrological Collection: New Perspectives on Geoscience CollectionsErika Anderson0https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2789-2213The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ; Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 2C6 The origin of the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery’s mineralogical and petrological collection can be traced back to Sir William Hunter’s bequest of his collections to the University of Glasgow upon his death in 1783. Examination of the collection’s colonial legacies is only in its nascent stages, reflecting that the scrutiny of colonial legacies is still in its infancy in geoscience museums. Here I review the history of the collection, its composition and usage, and I put those factors into the broader perspective of museums’ colonial legacies. Among the issues I consider are the extent to which the collection contains international specimens and the extent to which these objects are accessed by their source nations. Also explored are the biases which exist in the limited provenance ascribed to objects in the collection and how certain individuals or types of information may be excluded from documentation. The purpose of these investigations is to consider whether the collection continues to contribute to colonial legacies of the museum sector. After an examination of these aspects of the collection, new ways of working for geoscience collections are proposed, including standards for gathering data; expanding the collection’s reach to more users; and repatriating objects. These initial measures can change the power imbalances apparent in the Hunterian collection and the geosciences more broadly. https://journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/mas/article/view/4598mineralsrocksdecolonizationcollectionsnatural historymuseums |
| spellingShingle | Erika Anderson Examining the Colonial Legacies of the Hunterian’s Mineralogical and Petrological Collection: New Perspectives on Geoscience Collections Museum & Society minerals rocks decolonization collections natural history museums |
| title | Examining the Colonial Legacies of the Hunterian’s Mineralogical and Petrological Collection: New Perspectives on Geoscience Collections |
| title_full | Examining the Colonial Legacies of the Hunterian’s Mineralogical and Petrological Collection: New Perspectives on Geoscience Collections |
| title_fullStr | Examining the Colonial Legacies of the Hunterian’s Mineralogical and Petrological Collection: New Perspectives on Geoscience Collections |
| title_full_unstemmed | Examining the Colonial Legacies of the Hunterian’s Mineralogical and Petrological Collection: New Perspectives on Geoscience Collections |
| title_short | Examining the Colonial Legacies of the Hunterian’s Mineralogical and Petrological Collection: New Perspectives on Geoscience Collections |
| title_sort | examining the colonial legacies of the hunterian s mineralogical and petrological collection new perspectives on geoscience collections |
| topic | minerals rocks decolonization collections natural history museums |
| url | https://journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/mas/article/view/4598 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT erikaanderson examiningthecoloniallegaciesofthehunteriansmineralogicalandpetrologicalcollectionnewperspectivesongeosciencecollections |